Wireless Access

Hey,

Sometimes I feel like I walked in to the room toward the end of the conversation, so I'm not sure what I missed.

We've got the mobility master and backup MM currently on 8.6.0.5, so I'm looking to get the newer revision, 8.6.0.6.  When I pull up the site, I see options (re-ordered for clarity) 8.7, 8.6, 8.5, 8.4, 8.3, 8.2, 8.1, 8.0, 8.x, 6.4, 6.5, 6.3, 6.x to filter results.
Where's the difference chart to show me what's in 8.7 vs 8.6, etc?  
Narrowing the choices to a specific major version doesn't really lead one to a logical conclusion on what to choose, either:
The major versions are simply listed in order of most items to least items.  

Is there a blog post I consistently miss to give us an idea of which versions are doing what?  I had chosen 8.6 some time ago because it was newer, but now I see 8.7.  Is 8.7 stable?  Should I wait till 8.7.x.2 to update?  
Perhaps I'm the only one, but I have a lot of responsibility in my position, and I don't have the time to go through all of the documents to see the difference.  A summary blog post would sure help. 

Am I alone?  I understand that there are many reasons one might choose a version over another, but that's my point - I have no idea what the subtleties between versions are, and I have no idea where to find that information.  It would be great to see versions that you recommend for those of us who want stable but with most features.  Even just tags like Recommended (latest stable), Cutting Edge (may contain some bugs), Bleeding Edge (good luck) would help a good bit.

Can someone highlight the major differences?

------------------------------
Phillip Horn
------------------------------

Hi Phillip,

First of all we have some major releases that start with 8.x, each major release brings new features or support new hardware. For example the major release 8.6 brings support for 802.11ax access points like the AP-505 and some new features as BSS coloring. All the new hardware and features can be found in the release notes.

Then there are two different release types, "normal" and "conservative". The conservative releases are considered as the most robust ones. There are some triggers before a release comes "conservative", for example there must be in use by x% of the customers, have less then x% bugreports, etc. 

At this moment only the 8.5 release is considered as conservative, the latest patch release is 8.5.0.11. For that reason i personally would recommend 8.5 for now until you have to support one of the new features or hardware like the AP-505 access points or some of the new 802.11ax features.

Hope this helps you.

------------------------------
marcel koedijk
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Nov 02, 2020 12:18 PM
From: Phillip Horn
Subject: What version of ArubaOS does what?

Hey,

Sometimes I feel like I walked in to the room toward the end of the conversation, so I'm not sure what I missed.

We've got the mobility master and backup MM currently on 8.6.0.5, so I'm looking to get the newer revision, 8.6.0.6.  When I pull up the site, I see options (re-ordered for clarity) 8.7, 8.6, 8.5, 8.4, 8.3, 8.2, 8.1, 8.0, 8.x, 6.4, 6.5, 6.3, 6.x to filter results.
Where's the difference chart to show me what's in 8.7 vs 8.6, etc?
Narrowing the choices to a specific major version doesn't really lead one to a logical conclusion on what to choose, either:

The major versions are simply listed in order of most items to least items.

Is there a blog post I consistently miss to give us an idea of which versions are doing what?  I had chosen 8.6 some time ago because it was newer, but now I see 8.7.  Is 8.7 stable?  Should I wait till 8.7.x.2 to update?
Perhaps I'm the only one, but I have a lot of responsibility in my position, and I don't have the time to go through all of the documents to see the difference.  A summary blog post would sure help.

Am I alone?  I understand that there are many reasons one might choose a version over another, but that's my point - I have no idea what the subtleties between versions are, and I have no idea where to find that information.  It would be great to see versions that you recommend for those of us who want stable but with most features.  Even just tags like Recommended (latest stable), Cutting Edge (may contain some bugs), Bleeding Edge (good luck) would help a good bit.

Can someone highlight the major differences?

------------------------------
Phillip Horn
------------------------------

Marcel,

Thanks for the info.  This is good info, and I appreciate it.  We're using 555's, and 515's with several 535's and  505h's to be added this month in our deployment, so 8.6 is our go to.  I just wish there was an easy way to see the basic differences without checking all the release notes, as that can take some time.  
Thanks again!

------------------------------
Phillip Horn
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Nov 02, 2020 06:22 PM
From: marcel koedijk
Subject: What version of ArubaOS does what?

Hi Phillip,

First of all we have some major releases that start with 8.x, each major release brings new features or support new hardware. For example the major release 8.6 brings support for 802.11ax access points like the AP-505 and some new features as BSS coloring. All the new hardware and features can be found in the release notes.

Then there are two different release types, "normal" and "conservative". The conservative releases are considered as the most robust ones. There are some triggers before a release comes "conservative", for example there must be in use by x% of the customers, have less then x% bugreports, etc. 

At this moment only the 8.5 release is considered as conservative, the latest patch release is 8.5.0.11. For that reason i personally would recommend 8.5 for now until you have to support one of the new features or hardware like the AP-505 access points or some of the new 802.11ax features.

Hope this helps you.

------------------------------
marcel koedijk

Original Message:
Sent: Nov 02, 2020 12:18 PM
From: Phillip Horn
Subject: What version of ArubaOS does what?

Hey,

Sometimes I feel like I walked in to the room toward the end of the conversation, so I'm not sure what I missed.

We've got the mobility master and backup MM currently on 8.6.0.5, so I'm looking to get the newer revision, 8.6.0.6.  When I pull up the site, I see options (re-ordered for clarity) 8.7, 8.6, 8.5, 8.4, 8.3, 8.2, 8.1, 8.0, 8.x, 6.4, 6.5, 6.3, 6.x to filter results.
Where's the difference chart to show me what's in 8.7 vs 8.6, etc?
Narrowing the choices to a specific major version doesn't really lead one to a logical conclusion on what to choose, either:

The major versions are simply listed in order of most items to least items.

Is there a blog post I consistently miss to give us an idea of which versions are doing what?  I had chosen 8.6 some time ago because it was newer, but now I see 8.7.  Is 8.7 stable?  Should I wait till 8.7.x.2 to update?
Perhaps I'm the only one, but I have a lot of responsibility in my position, and I don't have the time to go through all of the documents to see the difference.  A summary blog post would sure help.

Am I alone?  I understand that there are many reasons one might choose a version over another, but that's my point - I have no idea what the subtleties between versions are, and I have no idea where to find that information.  It would be great to see versions that you recommend for those of us who want stable but with most features.  Even just tags like Recommended (latest stable), Cutting Edge (may contain some bugs), Bleeding Edge (good luck) would help a good bit.

Can someone highlight the major differences?

------------------------------
Phillip Horn
------------------------------